Maddie Storvold is a name you can expect to hear more about in the future. She’s a multi-faceted singer-songwriter with depth beyond her 23 years.

Let’s start with the experience that shapes the power of observation, that moulds personal vision.

A native of Cold Lake, raised largely in Dubai from age four, this self-proclaimed nomad/vagabond had already been to about 30 countries by the time she turned 18, thanks to her father’s career as an airline pilot.

“The fact that I was always travelling as a young person, and still have that desire in me, helped me become an effective collector of experiences and an avid witness to the world. Being able to see and experience so many different cultures and tongues and foods at such a young age is a really inspiring thing that gives you such a complex picture of humanity. I kind of fell in love with that diversity at a young age.”

Subsequent sojourns as a cocktail server in places like Thailand and South Africa gave her time to consider what she wanted to do with her life, and hearing folk and pop from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan and Brandi Carlile helped point the way.

Storvold is good with words, too. A university grad who majored in literature and philosophy, she chose to title her new second album Freedom, Books, Flowers and the Moon after a quote from Oscar Wilde, (“With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?”). It’s not easy to pinpoint what her songs are about because there’s so much in them. Even her love songs capture a level of emotional complexity that’s special and the rhyme schemes aren’t hammered home.

“I’ve always loved words, and I’m sure that there’s been an impact on my songwriting that I don’t even recognize from years of reading the greats and critical thinking. I’m always reading now, too, and I draw from poets and authors in my writing, so I often feel as inspired by reading as I do from experiencing the world myself. I’m grateful to love reading because it makes me a much better writer.”

Storvold says she encouraged her supporting band and producer Harry Gregg to chime in on arrangements during sessions at the Audio Department. Whoever you chose to credit, they worked out some fine tracks that flow organically, taking wing at the right moment.

I'm always reading ... and I draw from poets and authors in my writing, so I often feel as inspired by reading as I do from experiencing the world myself.

But Storvold wrote all the songs, and at least one of them, Night Sweats (about those big-world anxieties that can keep you awake at night) deserves to be a hit for its irresistible pop-folk hook.

“I was driving down to the United States after the election to attend a Folk Alliance conference, and I got a chance to see the political state of things first-hand and it was really terrifying. It’s a stupid thing, but I kept having dreams and waking up sweating. It’s not just about seeing the news, but a deep subconscious fear about where the world is right now. It’s definitely not about menopause.”

Then there’s the voice that delivers all this seasoned wit and sweetly forlorn wisdom, just sugar-coated enough to be addictive, but trained through years of choir practice to navigate pleasing turns and vertical slides up and down the octaves. The cadences of Storvold’s song constructions remind me most of Dar Williams though she could be on her way to distilling down something original.

Finally, there’s the Storvold sense of humour that made me chuckle when I caught her between-tune patter on the School Of Song stage at the 2017 Edmonton Folk Music Festival, and made me chuckle again when I heard her new track about growing up called Maybe (“Maybe I’m a f**k up with poor hygiene and a bad tattoo, Maybe you are too”). She’s not interested in doing standup comedy, but it doesn’t hurt to be entertaining in a slightly world-weary way even if you are 23.

Singer-songwriter Maddie Storvold marks the release of her second album on Dec. 15, 2018, under the stars at the Telus World of Science.Supplied

Serious themes vent themselves frequently on Freedom, Books, Flowers and the Moon, most hauntingly on Wild Geese, written after a friend’s suicide, most urgently on Night Sweats, most intimately on the love song Like A Whisper, and most thoughtfully on the opening Little By Little, about how life progresses in little increments. At their best, Storvold’s songs live wonderfully in the messes, smells and snapshots of a troubadour’s tour brought to life for three or four honest minutes.

Growing up, singing was a key part of family social occasions. She got piano lessons as a kid, her grandfather taught her guitar at 12, and more recently she took up accordion and harmonica. Storvold was writing poetry early on, too, but she didn’t get really serious about writing songs until she was working a summer in Banff several years ago. She’s paid her dues at open mics and our chat came as she was leaving Vancouver, part of her latest mini-tour of western dates.

She explains that album No. 1, 2016’s The Old Brag Of My Heart (title courtesy of Sylvia Plath) was set down out of necessity in a sad time when “I was a broken person,” collectively suffering the end of love, her friend’s suicide, and her parents’ marriage ending. As Storvold sees it, album No. 2 is the crucial set of songs she’s been saving up for years, the album that came together because the time was right.

Freedom, Books, Flowers and the Moon might not be quite as happy as that Wilde quote implies, but it is a celebration, a celebration of growing up, gaining wisdom and meeting the world on your own terms. And make no mistake, Maddie Storvold is going to be there.

Specifically, she’s going to be featured in the PBS television live concert series Stampede City Sessions, filmed in Calgary. But before that happens, she’s singing under the dome of stars this Saturday, effects added, and there couldn’t be a more cosmic place to hear Maddie Storvold’s songs take flight.

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